Local Court NSW

Contact Armstrong Legal:
Sydney: (02) 9261 4555

The Local Court is the lowest Court in the state legal system and the busiest. Almost all criminal matters commence in the Local Court and the majority are finished in that Court. Committal proceedings are also conducted to determine if indictable offences are to be moved to the District and Supreme Courts.

The Local Court has multiple divisions including:

Children’s Court – conducting criminal cases concerning children and young people, matters relating to the care and protection of children and young people

Coronial jurisdiction – conducting inquests into a person who died a violent and unnatural death, a sudden death with an unknown cause or died under suspicious or unusual circumstances.

Industrial jurisdiction – exercising civil and criminal jurisdiction under a broad range of State and Commonwealth legislation.

Mental health – reviewing a need for continued detention of a person involuntarily admitted to a hospital for psychiatric treatment, and approving the discharge of persons subject to community treatment orders.

The penalties the Local Court can impose in criminal matters include good behaviour bonds, fines, community service orders, intensive corrective order and imprisonment. The Local Court can give a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment per offence, and five years imprisonment all together.

Within the Local Court 603,604 matters were finalised in 2009-2010. The most common offences overseen by the Local Court were traffic offences. After traffic offences, the most common were:

where to next?

If you suspect that you may be under investigation, or if you have been charged with an offence, it is vital to get competent legal advice as early as possible. Our lawyers are highly specialised in criminal law and will be able to guide you through the process while dealing with the various authorities related to your matter.